SASC Sticks to Hearings Behind Closed Doors

Don’t expect open hearings from the senate armed services committee (SASC) as long as Carl Levin [D-MI] is in charge. Somehow the counterpart committee in the House of Representatives found a way not to let the need for occasional classified discussions get in the way of transparency. Various newsrooms and nonprofit organizations have called for open hearings, so far to no avail.

Middle East

Iraq’s military has reportedly made a deal with Sunni tribes in the Anbar province to fight the Al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Globalism and Knowledge Transfers

Eamonn Fingleton, a long-standing proponent of manufacturing, argues that Japan has a “plan to unmake Boeing”, with support from American executives focused on short term profits.

UK Defence Procurement Rebranded

Meet DE&S-Plus, which procures 37% more efficiently than competing brands. Secretary Hammond still wants some amount of private support, despite the fact plans to move to a Government-owned, contractor-operated just derailed.

Stars As GPS Fallback

Northrop Grumman is partnering with Trex Enterprises to use its celestial navigation subsystems in the prime’s ground targeting systems.

Which Washington Did you Really Mean?

When the Air Force named one of its B-2 bombers “Spirit of Washington”, did they mean to hint of a penchant for deception often associated with the federal capital, rather than refer to the state of Washington? There’s always room to move to Nebraska in case anyone wants to clean up their act.

DLA, Post Afghanistan

The latest Loglines explains what the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) does beyond Afghanistan in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. The support team out of Kuwait has been involved in a fair amount of disposal using industrial shredders.

A Smart Toy, And Maybe More

Today’s video showcases Orbotix’ Sphero 2B toy robot, whose low price, speed, and apparent flexibility are worth paying attention to. Like with their ball-shaped predecessors, software developers can write macros for the device, which looks a bit like programming turtles in the Logo language. The robots can also be controlled with a smartphone, and are expected to be available to consumers in the fall for less than $100, which is far less than Audis that can park themselves: